Mortgage PRO Week in Review -- 12/10/07 through 12/16/07

I was honored whenJeff Belonger asked me to write this review. This is the first time I've written the Week in Review and I spent most all of last week thinking about what I would use as the theme. I also have seen so many different excellent mortgage posts from so many different and excellent loan officers. Hey guys, we have some great talent here!

So what makes a great loan officer, great? Is it product knowledge? How about salesmanship? Negotiating abilities? Communications skills? Financial know how? Legal and contractual IQ?

You know the answer - it's a combination of all of these ingredients and more.

For my Mortgage Week in Review I chose to highlight the best of the best in each of these ingredients.

With the holiday season upon us, and my underlying theme of ingredients, my theme for this post became obvious.

Cioppino!

Michael Chiarello and I have a little history together so I chose his recipe to feature. I've linked his picture to the recipe on FoodNetwork. Nothing says Happy Holidays like a great Cioppino, and a good bottle of spicy Zin or Sangiovese!

For a Great Cioppino, gather the following...

The Base2 quarts fish fumet or stock -You need to start with a good base. It's the foundation that everything is built upon.

The Dry SpicesGrey salt and freshly ground black pepper, 1 tbs. toasted fennel seed, 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp. dried oregano -Although these are considered dry, they are still very potent when used appropriately.

The Acids2 tbs. tomato paste, 1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes - It's the acid in food that delivers the spark. A wine without acid is flat. The proper use of acid in food delivers that same spark and vibrancy

The Heat5 whole jalapenos - The heat of the Jalapeno brings out the intensity of the flavors. Cooking for just myself, I prefer the slightly hotter Serrano. If I'm cooking for the family, it might be the low level Poblano. To each their own.

The Fish2 lbs. littleneck clams and PEI mussels, crab legs, large shrimp, 2 lbs. halibut fillet, 3/4 lb. sea scallops - Everyone knows to use only the freshest fish. Just one piece of bad fish will ruin the whole dish. Know where your fish comes from and how fresh it is. Do your homework.

All in all there is nothing like a great Cioppino to help celebrate the holidays. And like a great loan officer, a great Cioppino brings together many different ingredients. It's the combination of those ingredients and not one single ingredient that makes both great.

NOTE: I read every single post written by a Loan Officer or Mortgage Company over the last week. Every single one! It was the first time I had done this. I was surprised at how many posts were cut and paste hacks, or reposted over and over again in hopes of Search Engine Rankings. If I found your first post wonderful and enlightening, it was eliminated when I saw it reposted again with just a few keywords changed. Also, if your post started out as great but was abruptly halted with a Read More... it wasn't really a post here on ActiveRain was it? Sorry about that. If your post was marked by a splot it wasn't good enough for AR, so I figured it wasn't good enough for me.

What I did learn was that it was so easy to make the Mortgage Week in Review. All you have to do is write compelling original material. Do that and do that once.

Mortgage blogs by loan officersHere is a list of Loan Officers. If you are not listed, please email Jeff Belonger to be added. This way the person doing the Mortgage Pro week in review can try and find most mortgage related posts in one section. ActiveRain is growing rapidly and it is difficult to keep up.... If you think you have been ignored, you have not. This is open to all!!!

This post brought to you courtesy of Mike Mueller. Feel free to ReBlog or ReTweet as you like as long as you credit the source (him). Did you know? He's for hire! He builds Blogs, Graphic Images and Widgets and Facebook Pages and besides… He knows lots of really cool stuff.

As a "newbie" I often think "why in the world is this featured?" or "same people featured again". I have to say I've only started to examine your body of work here on AR and wow!!! You have so much to offer.

Thanks for a great blog and I love to cook so this is just too cool! Really wonderful. I have to spend a while to learn and I promise I will be back to learn from this post.

Jess - Interesting tact. I'm not convinced that the Who's Who is a prerequisite for inclusion. Quality original content is all that's required. Although I'm subscribed to around 100 bloggers - I had never heard of three of these people. As for the others? Read there blogs. They produce quality original content daily.

Ed - You are welcome. AR is a much better place with you in it.

Mike - Sorry. I was raised by Wolves. It was a well appointed cave, and they had good taste, but they were wolves. ; )

Diane - Thank you. Not sure if I could handle it. It's a lot of work. I had no idea until I did this one just how much work these wonderful people put into this reviewing thing, and they do so week after week. Wow!

Additional Information

Disclaimer: Trulia, Inc. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. Trulia, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.